'The Woolworth Building @100'

An exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum looks back on the fortune that became the then-tallest building in the world.

Many say that they like architecture, but like turns to love when fortunes are invested in it. In the early 1900s, Frank W. Woolworth, who originated the five-and-ten variety stores, put his faith and his fortune into the then-tallest building in the world at 792 feet, the Woolworth Building. Designed by architect Cass Gilbert, it was done in the popular Gothic style and made of a steel frame covered in 15 million pounds of lightweight terra-cotta. It opened on April 24, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson flipped a switch in Washington, D.C., and 80,000 incandescent bulbs lit up New York. To celebrate architecture-loving tycoons and their creations, the Skyscraper Museum is putting on The Woolworth Building @100. The exhibition follows the ways that Woolworth encouraged Gilbert, who had once defined the skyscraper as "a machine to make the land pay," to elevate the form to civic monument status. Gilbert's original sketches, office renderings, and presentation drawings are shown, as well as blueprints and documentation of the buildings terra-cotta tracery, finials, and gargoyles. Though the exhibition looks back on the Woolworth's history, it also portends the future, as fortunes are still being invested in the Woolworth today: A $68 million dollar deal made last year will soon turn the top floors on the building into one penthouse and 40 luxury apartments. Through July 14. • skyscraper.org